Collaborative software building has its own special challenges: globally distributed teams, stakeholders who are coming from very different perspectives, and often a mix of paid and volunteer contributors. The good news is that there are lots of ways to improve a team’s communications and collective goal-setting as well as solid and reproducible ways to set expectations and build accountability without getting lost in the wilderness. The bad news is that it rarely works the way you expect because people are complicated and sometimes there are pockets of quicksand that no one warned you about.

Drawing on their deep experience with building both internal and external teams composed of a combination of different skillsets, seniority, and goals, VM Brasseur and Deb Nicholson share a map to productive, happy teams, covering setting the tone, nuts and bolts, ideas for troubleshooting, and where to learn more. You’ll leave with immediately actionable strategies for how to orient new team members, navigate thorny situations, and surmount communication challenges.